Pásztor Emília (szerk.): Sámánizmus és természethit régen és ma - Bajai dolgozatok 23. (Baja, 2019)
Sergio Poggianella: A szakrális táj. A Dalmeri menedék sámánja
A Sacred Landscape. The Shaman of the Dalmeri Shelter practices and functions. Beyond any artistic value and the techniques used, as the archaeologist Giampaolo Dalmeri maintains, the painted stones are: "representative of ideological gestures and conceptions"7 with an interpretation based on analysis of their spatial relationships. As well as archaeological evidence deduced by multidisciplinary scientific analysis of the finds, the gestures, the act of painting and arranging the stones according to a far from casual spatial logic, are a demonstration of ceremonies and ritual practice by individuals having characteristics that could be those of a shaman, when in the role of an intermediary between human beings and the spirit world. Illustrating this topic we wish to note here some interpretations of the concept of shaman, as proposed by accredited anthropologists and historians of religion. The vast theme of shamanism is under intense debate at all conventions and in all publications dedicated to the study of shamans in the most diverse cultures. The many schools of thought on shamanism now include neo-shamanism and the New Age, within differing historical and geographical contexts attribute to the shaman a range of roles, functions and meanings, to reach ecstasy or other forms of altered conscience, whether using psychomimetic substances, or, according to the cultures, rituals such as prolonged drumming or dancing or other forms inducing states of epilepsy or trance. In the article 'Introductory Remarks on the Study of Shamanism' the anthropologist and shamanologist Àke Hultkranz observes that although shamanism is investigated from all possible angles in many countries, there are very few fruitful exchanges of ideas between the students involved8. He cites V. M. Mikhaïlovskiï among others, who in one of the first scientific definitions, affirms that shaman is an "an intermediary in man's relation with the world of spirits", a mediator between natural and supernatural worlds9. The historian of religion Mircea Eliade sees the shaman as a master of ecstasy and shamanism as an ecstasy technique. But still more pregnant is the reflection by the same Àke Hultkranz on the role of the shaman: "a social functionary who, with the help of guardian spirits, attains ecstasy in order to create a rapport with the supernatural world on behalf of his group members". It is a shaman, he or she who by spiritual exercise and talent can act as an intermediary between the social group - and others in some cases - and supernatural powers. Contact with other worlds is reached in trance or ecstasy, two words that express the same concept. "The trance signals the entrance of the guardian spirits"10. The shaman when recovering the soul of the sick at times may become his guardian spirit. He can also take on the role of psychopomp, fortune-teller and of responsible for good hunting, acting as supernatural lord of the animals, making them available to the hunters. Shamanism can be defined as the set of beliefs, rituals ÏÀSS*****************************^ 209
